Chapter Nineteen

Job’s response to Bildad’s speech in the second conversation. 1–22. Job’s position should evoke feelings of compassion and regret in his friends, but certainly not accusation and rebuke. 23–29. Job’s faith in future bodily resurrection.

Job 19:1. And Job answered and said: Job 19:2. How long will you torment my soul and break me in pieces with words? Job 19:3. Look, already ten times you have put me to shame and do not hesitate to mistreat me. The friends’ reasoning about the destruction of the wicked and his descendants contains rather clear allusions to Job’s fate (see Job 15:29-34). In their eyes he is a sinner, which was directly stated by Eliphaz (Job 15:4-5). Such accusations, combined with a lack of compassion, bring torment to the innocent sufferer (cf. Job 17:2). And since in their repeated speeches (“ten” is a round number), the friends have apparently exhausted all their arguments, it is time for them to be silent and stop the torment (verse 2).

Job 19:4. If I have indeed transgressed, my transgression remains with me. Indeed, the friends have no right and no sufficient grounds to treat Job so mercilessly. If he has sinned, he has brought harm only to himself, but certainly not to them. Why then do they arm themselves against him so?

Job 19:5. If you want to boast over me and reproach me with my shame, Job 19:6. then know that God has overthrown me and surrounded me with his net. The apparent reason for the friends’ haughty behavior (“to boast”; cf. Ps 34:26) is Job’s terrible disease, which testifies to his impiety. But in this case, we must take into account the fact that God is treating him more strictly than he deserves. Job 19:7-22. The friends treat Job mercilessly, and yet his position should awaken feelings of compassion.

Job 19:7. Behold, I cry out: “There is wrongdoing!” but no one hears; I cry for justice, and there is none. Job 19:8. He has walled up my way, and I cannot pass; and he has set darkness on my paths. Innocently punished, Job demands impartial judgment (Job 9:35), but does not find it. And while such a state lasts, he has no way to escape the great misfortunes that contain him (“he has walled up my way, and I cannot pass,” verse 8; cf. Lam 1:6-7), or even to understand their cause: “and he has set darkness on my paths” (verse 8; cf. Job 3:23).

Job 19:9. He has stripped me of my glory and taken the crown from my head. Job 19:10. He has broken me down on every side, and I am gone; my hope is uprooted like a tree. Job 19:11. He has kindled his anger against me and counts me among his enemies. Job 19:12. His armies have come together and made a road for themselves to me and camped around my tent. These misfortunes consist first of all in being deprived of what once created his glory, gave him honor and respect in society (verse 9; cf. Job 39:7, and especially verse 14, according to which righteousness was his crown, in which he is now accused of being false); secondly, in being struck with grievous disease (verse 10), which destroys flesh (verse 20), even bones (Job 30:17), and leads to death (“and I am gone,” verse 10; cf. Job 10:21), so that Job is like a demolished house: “he has broken me down on every side,” Hebrew “yattetzeni,” from “tatat,” used to denote a destroyed building—Judg 9:45; Jer 39:8, and thirdly, in the unceasing divine anger down to the present time (verses 11–12). God treats him as a hostile fortress: “His armies”—the misfortunes that have befallen Job—make assault after assault (cf. Job 6:4). Job 19:13-19. As a result of such God’s treatment of Job, he, once respected, now receives from nowhere manifestations of love, faithfulness, respect and attachment. Everyone avoids him, and some even despise him.

Job 19:13. He has removed my brothers far from me, and those who know me have estranged themselves from me. Job 19:14. My close ones have forsaken me, and those who knew me have forgotten me. Job has been abandoned by his own brothers (“ach”—brothers in the literal sense, as in Ps 68:9) and forgotten by those who knew and were close to him—persons who stood in the most intimate relations with him (Ps 37:12).

Job 19:15. Those lodging in my house and my servant girls regard me as a stranger; I have become an alien in their sight. Job 19:16. I call to my servant, but he does not answer; I must entreat him with my own mouth. Even further removed from him are those who did not stand in such relations with him. He has become completely alien to those who found shelter in his house (cf. Job 31:31-32); “those lodging,” Hebrew “garey beyti” (cf. Exod 3:22); servants who had been benefited before, who received the most humane treatment from him (Job 31:13), now do not respond to his call, and he, their master, must entreat them to obtain any service.

Job 19:17. My breath has become repulsive to my wife, and I must entreat her for the children of my womb. Job has become unbearable even to his closest companion, his wife; the foul breath of the leper is repulsive to her, and he must ask for her help for the sake of “the children of my womb.” Who is meant by “the children of my womb” remains unclear. Job could not have meant actual children, since they had died. Children from concubines, as the LXX understands it: “huios pallakidon,” “sons of concubines,” also does not apply, because there is no mention of them in the book, and besides, Job was an example of chastity (Job 31:1). According to Dillmann, Knabenbauer, and others, “the children of my womb” means the children of the womb that was his own, that is, the children of his mother’s womb, his brothers. But if “the children of my womb” is understood in the literal sense, then the meaning and force of this passage is in no way diminished: Job begs his wife to offer him help in memory of the former love that united them as spouses and of which the dead children were the manifestation.

Job 19:18. Even young children despise me; when I stand, they mock me. The example of adults acts upon children too. Incapable of distinguishing good from evil, but more cruel than their elders, they mock the sufferer (cf. 2 Sam 2:23) when he rises, that is, makes unnatural movements, as one exhausted by disease.

Job 19:19. All my intimate friends abhor me, and those I loved have turned against me. Job arouses feelings of disgust in his intimate friends—persons to whom he had once entrusted all his secrets (Ps 54:15)—and feelings of enmity in those who enjoyed his love.

Job 19:20. My bones cling to my skin and flesh, and I am left only with skin about my teeth. Apart from all else, the very appearance of the sufferer involuntarily arouses compassion. Disease has destroyed everything: nothing remains of him but bones clinging to skin; flesh exists only near his teeth, in the form of gums.

Job 19:21. Have pity on me, have pity on me, you my friends, for the hand of God has touched me. Job 19:22. Why do you also persecute me as God does, and are not satisfied with my flesh? Job’s bodily strength is exhausted, and the leprosy with which God has struck him (Hebrew “naga,” used to denote leprosy, Lev 13:23) is sufficient for him. Therefore, his friends should not increase his sufferings by “consuming his flesh,” through new calamities (Ps 26:2; Mic 3:3), that is, through accusations and slander (Dan 3:8).

Job 19:23. Oh, that my words were written down! If only they were inscribed in a book, Job 19:24. with an iron tool and lead, carved in stone for all time! The request directed to his friends for a sympathetic and compassionate attitude (verse 21) remains unanswered. In view of this, Job expresses a wish that, at least, future generations might regard him with sympathy and compassion. This is possible only on condition that they become acquainted with his innocence and faith in God, the means to which is the recording of his words on stone with an iron tool (on this see the Introduction)—not all that he has said, since not all of it testifies to his righteousness, but only the words of verses 25–27.

Job 19:25. But I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day He will raise up from the dust this decaying skin of mine, “I know,” says Job, “my Redeemer, more precisely, my Go’el, lives.” Among the Hebrews, Go’el was called a person who had the right to avenge not only murder, but also honor and property, to demand justice and even to execute it himself (Lev 25:25; Num 35:19; Deut 19:6; Ruth 3:13). The title “Go’el” is also applied to God as the deliverer of the Hebrew people from Egyptian slavery (Exod 6:6; Ps 73:2) and Babylonian slavery (Isa 43:1), and in general, as the judge and avenger of all the oppressed and downtrodden (Ps 118:154; Lam 3:58). And as shown by the expression “lives,” applied to God (Deut 5:26; Judg 8:19; 1 Sam 17:26; Isa 37:17, etc.), God is also the Go’el of Job, his protector and deliverer. “And at last” is an incorrect translation of the Hebrew phrase: “ve-aharon al-afar yaqum,” which literally means “and the last will stand over the dust.” As the protector of Job, God will “stand,” that is, appear (“qum” in the sense of “to stand” is used of a witness—Deut 30:5; Ps 26:12 and of God the judge—Isa 2:19; Ps 11:6) over the dust (al-afar), Job’s ashes and his grave (Job 7:21) as “the last,” that is, at the end of the existence of this world (“the last” is the one who outlives all—Isa 44:6). “And will raise up from the dust my decaying skin,” is an incorrect translation of the Hebrew text: “ve-ahar ori nikfu zot.” “Ahar” means behind, after, following (Ps 72:24). “Nikfu” is a Piel form of the verb “nakaf,” meaning to surround (Isa 15:8; Ps 16:9; Josh 6:3, etc.), encountered only in the prophet Isaiah with the meaning “to cut down,” “to destroy” (Isa 10:34, cf. Job 17:6). “Ori” means my skin; “zot” means this. With the addition of the words of verse 26: “and from my flesh I will see God,” this whole passage (“ve-ahar ori nikfu zot”) can be translated as: “after my skin is destroyed, from my flesh I will see God.”

Job 19:27. I myself will see him; my own eyes will behold him, and not another’s eyes. My heart grows faint within me! Job is fully confident in the fulfillment of his words, and this confidence turns into an ardent expectation: “my heart grows faint within me,” more precisely: “my inner being has grown weak” (“kalu,” from “kalah,” denoting ardent expectation: cf. Ps 68:4). Job is convinced that God will appear as his protector at the end of the existence of this world. By that time, his body will have decayed, and nevertheless, he will “from his own flesh,” with his own eyes, see the Lord. The possibility of beholding God with bodily eyes after the decay of the flesh is conditioned only by the fact of bodily resurrection and the reunion of the body with the soul. The expression of Job’s faith in future bodily resurrection is discerned in this passage by the ancient translations. “I know,” we read in the LXX text, “that eternal is He who shall redeem me and shall raise me up on the earth, my skin suffering this, for from the Lord have come these things with me, which I myself know, which my eyes have seen, and not another.” “I know,” says the Syriac Peshitta translation, “that my redeemer lives, and at last upon the earth he will be revealed, and upon my skin surrounding this and upon my flesh.” Even more clearly does the Vulgate translation express it: “I know that my Redeemer lives, and on the last day I shall be raised from the earth. I shall be clothed again with my skin, and in my flesh I shall see my God. I shall see him myself, my eyes will behold him, and not another.” The understanding of the ancient translations accords with the understanding of the Fathers and teachers of the Eastern and Western Church, Clement of Rome, Origen, Cyril of Jerusalem, Epiphanius, Ambrose of Milan, Augustine the Blessed, and others.

Job 19:28. You ought to say: “Why do we persecute him? The root of the matter is found in me. Job 19:29. Fear the sword, for the sword is the avenger of iniquity, and know that there is a judgment. A warning directed to his friends. The right to judge Job belongs to God the Go’el (verse 25): He will prove his innocence. But if the friends, in spite of the sufferer’s words full of faith, continue to act in the role of judges and accusers, to point out the causes of his misfortunes in supposed sins, then they should fear the sword—divine punishment (Job 15:22; Zech 13:7). Regarding the inevitability of the latter (verse 29), see Job 13:7-10.